Notifications not obeying config

I posted this on the UnixLinux Stack Exchange forums, and I'm posting it here, too.

I use the notification config panel under the Settings menu. When I've tried giving the command /usr/bin/xfce4-notifyd-config it gives me the same config panel.

On the General tab, I have Do Not Disturb: off, Show Notifications on: Display With Mouse Pointer, Theme: default, default position: bottom left, opacity: 80%, disappear after: 20 seconds, fade out: off. When I click 'show preview' I get a window in the middle of my screen, that looks just like all the windows (frame decorations, etc) that says "this is what notifications look like".

Despite this, both pidgin and discord are giving me notifications in my upper right corner, black, with rounded corners.

I can't find anywhere else to adjust this - not in pidgin, not in discord, and not in any of the other settings under xfce.

Re: Notifications not obeying config

You are running the gnome notification daemon (notify-osd) not the Xfce notification daemon (xfce4-notifyd).

Easiest way to remove it, if you don't need it, is to uninstall it (in ubuntu, the package is called "notify-osd"). Also clear your sessions cache (Settings Manager > Session and Startup > Session) and log out and back in again.

Re: Notifications not obeying config

Does the person then need to install xfce4-notifyd, or is that preinstalled with Xfce? I'd assume the latter, except for the presence of an alternate. With notify-osd being present, perhaps that is the only one that the Ubuntu people include by default?

Re: Notifications not obeying config

MountainDewManiac wrote:

Does the person then need to install xfce4-notifyd, or is that preinstalled with Xfce? I'd assume the latter, except for the presence of an alternate. With notify-osd being present, perhaps that is the only one that the Ubuntu people include by default?

Regards,MDM

Looks like it's a recommended package when you install xfce4 on ubuntu, but a good point. OP should confirm that the package is indeed installed.

Re: Notifications not obeying config

My husband was the person who managed the computers, and he died in December. Upgrading is going to be a learning experience. Since you suggested it, can you point me to somewhere with Easy Instructions? I'm completely comfortable with command line (been computer-adjacent since 1980s) but haven't touched anything really since 2000 or so. I'm guessing that the second command shows all the places that xfc34-notifyd is touched upon, somehow?

Re: Notifications not obeying config

I'm sorry to hear about your husband. My condolences.

You would probably be able to get better advice on upgrading your system over at https://ubuntuforums.org/ as those forums are specific to the distro you are using. We are really geared towards the Xfce desktop environment.

As for the issue with your notifications, try these steps:1. Go to Settings Manager > Session and Startup > Session tab, and click on the "Clear Saved Session" button.2. Log out of the computer. During logout, if you get a dialog box that askes you if you want to log out, or restart, or suspend, etc, make sure that the "Save session for future logins" button is unchecked.3. Log back in again.4. Check to see if the notifications are working properly. If not run the same command from post #2 and post the results back.

Re: Notifications not obeying config

Ok, they're appearing in the correct place. And the preview actually shows what actually appears, as opposed to something that looks like a window frame. As far as I can tel, removing the unwanted notify code worked.

Thank you for your help, and my apologies for the long delay in replying. I had an attack of Real Life.